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Natalie Maines Sued for Defamation
TheBoot.com ^ | Dec 4th 2008 | Stephen L. Betts

Posted on 12/04/2008 4:45:26 PM PST by WestTexasWend

Dixie Chicks' lead singer Natalie Maines is being sued for defamation over statements she allegedly made about the stepfather of one of three 8-year-old boys murdered in Crittenden County, Ark. in 1993.

Arkansasbusiness.com reports that a complaint was filed November 25 in Pulaski County Circuit Court by Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of one of the murdered boys, Steve Branch. The complaint alleges Maines wrongfully made a "false and reckless claim that [Hobbs] committed the murders of the three boys ..."

Steve Branch, Christopher Byers and Michael Moore were found dead May 5, 1993 in a West Memphis, Ark. neighborhood. Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin, all of West Memphis, were convicted of the murders in 1994.

Maines -- identified by her married name, Pasdar, in the lawsuit -- allegedly made the comments during a rally last December on the steps of the Arkansas State Capitol in Little Rock.

The lawsuit also claims that Pasdar "recklessly published or caused to be published malicious, libelous, slanderous, and false statements" on the band's website in November 2007.

The lawsuit further claims that the statements were republished by several media outlets, including FOX News, The Memphis Commercial Appeal, and PEOPLE magazine.

The lawsuit seeks undisclosed punitive damages and "all other just and proper relief to which he may be entitled."

The case has attracted national attention, with many claiming insufficient evidence was presented to convict Echols, Misskelley and Baldwin, known as the "West Memphis Three." The controversial trials were the subject of a 1996 documentary film, and a 2000 sequel.


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: dixiechicks; frenchhens; satanism
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To: WestTexasWend

What kind of name is “Pasdar”?


21 posted on 12/04/2008 5:14:19 PM PST by exit82 (It's all Obama's fault. And Biden is still a moron. They are both above their paygrade.)
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To: WestTexasWend

22 posted on 12/04/2008 5:18:59 PM PST by RushIsMyTeddyBear
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To: WestTexasWend

She just keep her big yap shut.


23 posted on 12/04/2008 5:27:57 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: freekitty

She can’t keep her big fat yap shut. I meant to say.


24 posted on 12/04/2008 5:28:26 PM PST by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: Viking2002
Please read a book or see the documentary before commenting.

The film is called Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.

If you see it, you might understand where she's coming from.

25 posted on 12/04/2008 5:31:17 PM PST by x
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To: WestTexasWend

That is the funniest thing I’ve heard all week. Sorry the guy got bad-mouthed by big-mouth. I hope he gets all the damages he’s looking for and more. I admit I liked the ‘chicks - right up to the moment they started their little p-ing contest with Toby Keith and started bad mouthing the President and the Country. From that moment on, I never listened to another ‘chicks song, never will.


26 posted on 12/04/2008 5:33:35 PM PST by CodeMasterPhilzar
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To: x

Why is it Maines’ business to publically comment on a criminal case? She’s an entertainer, nothing more. Even if the evidence was flimsy as the article suggests, it isn’t up to her, me, you or anybody else to spout off at some rally on the Capital steps about it.

Extremely poor judgement on her part, I would say.


27 posted on 12/04/2008 6:14:54 PM PST by prairiebreeze (Our home unapologetically celebrates the birth of Jesus.)
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To: WestTexasWend

Relax people, for the morons it come with fame and money.

You begin to believe your own self importance which in turn gives you the right to do and say anything that enters into your tiny brain without seeing how moronbic it sounds or having the need to have any proof.


28 posted on 12/04/2008 8:07:06 PM PST by chiefqc
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To: CodeMasterPhilzar
I admit I liked the ‘chicks - right up to the moment they started their little p-ing contest with Toby Keith and started bad mouthing the President and the Country. From that moment on, I never listened to another ‘chicks song, never will.

I was back in the CONUS on leave when the DC were on some daytime talk show (long before they bashed the President). I thought they harmonized well enough. They sang while a man played guitar. They didn't introduce him. That's when I decided they had no class.

29 posted on 12/04/2008 8:13:24 PM PST by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: RushIsMyTeddyBear

Live by the doughnut trap, die by the doughnut trap!


30 posted on 12/04/2008 8:21:37 PM PST by cartoonistx
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To: WestTexasWend
Curious as to what she said, I went to the link.

I still don't know.

31 posted on 12/04/2008 8:29:45 PM PST by CaptRon (Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead)
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To: lastchance

I believe one of the kids’ stepfathers may be involved but I don’t think the other three that are incarcerated are completely innocent. I think they were involved but I don’t know that they had the ability to carry it out without someone leading them. Especially Misskelly and the other younger one. Echols seemed pretty cocky about the charges until he started getting raped in prison.


32 posted on 12/04/2008 8:31:50 PM PST by TNdandelion (This should be fun.)
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To: WestTexasWend

33 posted on 12/04/2008 8:40:40 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: WestTexasWend

Natalie Maines:

“Something I knew in my gut after I watched the film that these three guys didn’t do these crimes,” said Maines.

“In America you have to be proven guilty before a shadow of a doubt,” said Maines

******

Maines has written on the official Dixie Chick’s website:

“I encourage everyone to see the documentaries ‘Paradise Lost’ and ‘Paradise Lost’; for the whole history of the case. I only discovered the films about six months ago, and when I finished ‘Paradise Lost 2,’ I immediately got online to make sure that these three wrongly convicted boys had been set free since the films were released. My heart sank when I learned that the boys were now men and were still in prison.

I searched for answers as to what had been done and what was being done to correct this injustice. I donated to the defense fund and received a letter from Damien Echols wife, Lorri. She is a lovely woman who has dedicated her time and heart to her husband. I was glad to hear that after so many years of fighting for justice it looked like things were finally happening. Below, I have written what the DNA and forensics evidence shows. I hope after reading it and looking at the WM3.org website, you will know that the wrong guys are sitting in jail right now, and feel compelled to help.”

“Instead, the DNA results match Terry Hobbs, the step-father of one of the victims. Our new filing also includes strong evidence from Pam Hobbs (the ex-wife of Terry Hobbs and the mother of one of the victims) implicating her former husband in the murders.”

“If I had to have a supporter it wouldn’t be the Dixie Chicks,’’ quipped West Memphis assistant Police Chief Mike Allen, who as a young detective investigated the West Memphis child murders. “I quit listening to them a long time ago. She’s known to put her foot in her mouth and not know what she’s talking about.’’

******

In December of 2007, lead singer Natalie Maines spoke at a ‘Free the West Memphis 3’ rally on the steps of the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. Weeks earlier, she’d posted a letter on the band’s website asking for contributions to the legal defense fund.

In the letter, she implicated Terry Hobbs, the step-father of one of the murdered children. In part, she wrote, “he washed his clothes and sheets at odd hours for no other reason than to hide evidence from the crime.”

Hobbs has always denied involvement in the murders.

“I am not a child killer,” he told Action News 5 last August. “I was a step-parent back then, and we were a family on our feet, doing well.”

http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=9453742


34 posted on 12/04/2008 8:48:49 PM PST by kcvl
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To: TNdandelion

If you can pick up a copy from the library I highly recommend the book “Devil’s Knot”. I don’t think it is in paperback so that is why I suggest a library copy.

I do believe in their innocence. Which is weird cause I am the sort who one would expect to say they were guilty. A conservative Catholic who believes that ritual crimes have been and are committed by Satanists and other occult groups.

But the evidence never supported the prosecution’s theory. And calling as an expert someone who got their degree from a bogus non accredited “university” does not lend credence to that theory.

And I think it is a major injustice that the same judge from the original trials is the same judge who has refused new trials based on the DNA evidence. His reasoning being that the jury would still find the defendents guilty because of other evidence so the DNA would make no difference. Sound logic that.


35 posted on 12/04/2008 9:02:02 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: x

Read “Devil’s Knot”


36 posted on 12/04/2008 9:02:55 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: prairiebreeze

She has the same right as any other citizen to comment about any matter she chooses. And it is the right of any person to examine the evidence and decide for themselves whether they agree with her or not.


37 posted on 12/04/2008 9:04:49 PM PST by lastchance (Hug your babies.)
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To: WestTexasWend
Natalie? I'm trying to place her ...



Wasn't she in that coneheads movie?
38 posted on 12/04/2008 9:19:15 PM PST by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life ;o)
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To: exit82

Maines is married to actor Adrian Pasdar. His father is Iranian and mother, German. He’s a terrific actor and stars on “Heroes.” I’ve always been a fan - too bad he’s married to such a witch.


39 posted on 12/04/2008 9:43:27 PM PST by peggybac (Tolerance is the virtue of believing in nothing)
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To: kcvl

I did hear it wasn’t unusual for the step-father’s DNA to be found on his stepson. They said even a hair from the stepdad’s head could have been on the floor at their house and gotten in the son’s shoelace or piece of clothing.

If people watch the step-father’s TV interviews, he does not come across as a guilty person. Can’t always go by that, but many times you can tell if a person is lying.

I know very little about the case. But one of the websites has Damien’s records from his early brushes with the law, and according to his counselor he had some violent tendencies or episodes IIRC. I’ll try to find that link again, been a long time since I read those notes.


40 posted on 12/04/2008 10:10:22 PM PST by Cedar
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